


Small Black Box

by frominsideacomputer



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Camera, Japan, Japhan, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Polaroid, cherry blossom, ghibli museum, okay so the first chapter isn't sex, the second chapter is, toyko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 18:31:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3739009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frominsideacomputer/pseuds/frominsideacomputer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan and Phil are in Japan, and Phil's going to propose, and yeah i'm awful at summarys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Black Box

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this before they went to the Ghibli museum, so yeah. Maybe it's a foreshadowing and Phil did propose... who knows...

_The trip had pretty much been entirely planned around Phil planning on proposing to Dan. As soon as Dan had mentioned a holiday, Phil knew exactly where he wanted to go, and he booked the flights to Japan almost straight away. It was half spontaneous, half not_. 

 

As they walked underneath the cherry blossoms, hand in hand, Phil thought about when he was going to propose to Dan, he wanted it to be special, to be truly amazing, and to be something Dan would never forget. But he didn't want it to be cliché, he didn't want to make it tacky or commercial, it was going to be homely and theirs, just theirs. 

"I can't believe we actually did this Phil." Dan said, smiling as they walked. 

"Neither can I." Sighed Phil. 

"But I love you more for it." Dan stopped and let go of Phil's hand, he reached into his bag and rummaged around for a minute trying to find something. "And I've been thinking..."

"Yes?" Phil prompted, worried Dan was going to propose. 

"I've been thinking that, because we're in Japan...and it's one of the most amazing countries I've been to...and you're one of the most amazing people I have ever met (Phil blushed)... I want to make this trip as memorable as possible." Finally Dan pulled his hand out from his bag, holding a largish box. 

"Dan?" Phil didn't think that a box that big would hold a ring. 

"Phil Lester? Will you do me the honour (Phil was almost shaking in worry) of taking a Polaroid with me every day on this trip?" 

Exhaling deeply, Phil said "Talk about an anti-climax. But yes I will." He took the camera from Dan, and angled it so they were both in shot. The shutter closed and the photo printed out, showing Dan smiling over Phil's shoulder, surrounded by cherry blossom. 

  
Thoughts raced through Phil's head about when it would be a good time to propose. He couldn't now because he didn't have the ring, and tomorrow they were spending the whole day with Phil's friends, so there wasn't much privacy. But he had a surprise trip to the Studio Ghibli exhibition the day after that, so that could be a good time.

"What do you want to do for lunch?" Dan asked, as they reached the main shopping and eating street.

"I vote the first place we find we have to eat at." Phil's spontaneity was really thriving at the moment.

A little surprised, Dan said, "Okay." 

They walked along, not holding hands anymore, Dan didn't want to tell their fans about them being together - although it was widely rumoured - so with 7 million subscribers between them, the likelihood of finding a fan or two in Japan was reasonable. 

Going into the first place they found, Dan had salmon nigiri and Phil had sashimi. They used to have that at the old Japanese restaurant down the road from their flat. 

"This is the best Japan sushi I've ever had." Dan said, through a mouthful of rice. 

"That's probably because we're actually in Japan." 

"We are. We are actually in Japan." Although Dan _knew_ they were in Japan, it still felt like a dream to him; being in the country he’d longed to go to since he first discovered anime and with Phil, his best friend for six years and boyfriend for just under two years.

The rest of the day passed slowly and peacefully, both Dan and Phil were so jet lagged yet so happy to finally be in Japan, everything was a bit of a blur - Phil also had to deal with the fact that he was going to propose to Dan. 

On arriving back at their hotel, they both decided to go to bed straight away, they needed to catch up on sleep and it had been a long day. 

Tired, they changed into his pyjamas, Phil got into bed straight away, and Dan appeared from the bathroom moments later, joining him in bed.

 

"Thank you so much for this Phil." Dan mumbled, rolling onto his side to face Phil, whose fringe had flopped into his face; with one finger Dan carefully stroked it back, running his fingertip along Phil's forehead as he did so. 

"It was your idea too." Phil smiled sleepily at Dan. 

"But you booked it. You just YOLOed it." Dan said.

"I suppose I did." Phil replied, whilst thinking about the small black box in the bottom of his suitcase. 

Rolling onto his back, and into the near pitch darkness of the hotel room, Dan said sarcastically "But if you hadn't, I would have been in London to meet my buddy Nick Jones." 

Laughing, Phil answered "If you get a tweet from him tomorrow saying 'Hey Buddy you in Tokyo, I am going to jump out a window." 

"Please don't, I love you too much." Dan rolled over and in the almost pitch black, he kissed Phil, softly and sleepily before falling into a warm and comfortable sleep. 

Phil dozed off soon after, but not before he had thought about the title black box. 

 

They woke in the morning, Dan sprawled out over most of the bed with Phil curled up in a ball. Most mornings they woke up like this, Dan taking up all the space. 

Whilst Dan was showering (at home they would have shared but there wasn't quite enough room in the hotel one) Phil got dressed and decided that today would be the day, it just felt right. He put the box in his coat pocket, the red coat which he had barely worn since Dan bought it for him because it was just too nice, but it was perfect for Tokyo. 

Dan came out from the bathroom, his hair curly and hobbit like - before the trip, they had argued about taking straighteners, Dan said yes Phil said no, but in the end, Dan had won.

"What do you want to do today?" Phil asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for Dan to get ready

"I don't mind." Dan said, straightening his hair. 

Nonchalantly, Phil said "Why don't we go to the Ghibli museum? It's not too far and I know you'd love to go." (This was where he planned to propose.) 

"Sounds good." Dan finished doing his hair, and they were ready to go. 

 

They got the bus to the museum, and paid to get in. It was less of a museum, and more of a park; it had wide open spaces, with scale models of some of the creatures in the films. The robots from Laputa; a Totoro; the scarecrow from Howl's Moving castle, and an abundance of the paper creatures from Spirited Away. 

They walked through the parks, hand in hand, Phil could feel the little black box gently tapping against his side with every step they took. 

 

The time pulled on, and soon it was lunch time; they found a quiet place under a willow tree, down by a small pond and sat and ate the sushi they bought in the café earlier.

"Phil?" 

"Yeah?" Phil looked up.

"You're wearing the coat I bought you." Dan had finally noticed it. 

"Yes, I am." 

"But you never wear it. You said it was too nice." 

Shrugging, Phil replied, "It's perfect for this trip and I hadn't realised how nice it actually is." He took a mouthful of sushi. 

"It looks really good on you." Dan said quietly, he sounded a little worried though.

"Dan? What's wrong?" Phil reached across, and placed a hand on Dan's shoulder. 

"You know how we said we'd keep us private?" Dan mumbled.

"Yeah?" 

"Well it's getting kinda difficult lately. The fans are getting suspicious, they think that this trip was like when we were going to get engaged or something..." Dan trailed off, leaving Phil almost speechless.

"Dan, the fans have always been suspicious. It's nothing. And if  _I_ was going to propose, I wouldn't do it in Japan." Phil metaphorically hurled himself out of the hole and back into a placed where he could surprise Dan in around three minutes. 

"I suppose you're right," Dan said, looking up at Phil. "I worry too much."

Phil smiled "Yes you do, this is our holiday, no one else's. It's not Playlist, Summer in the City or Vidcon when everyone is expected to vlog everything. This is our holiday." 

And in that moment, Phil knew that it was the right time. There was a pause, before Phil put a hand into his pocket and held onto the box.

"Dan?" 

"Yes?"

"We've been dating, what nearly two years?" Phil swallowed, nervous about what he was about to do.

"Yeah?"

"And I love you more than anything, and I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you..."

"Phil?"

Pulling his hand out of his pocket, holding the box, Phil tried to open it so Dan wouldn't see, but it was too late. 

Dan gasped and Phil blushed. 

"Phil?"

With a racing heart and sweaty palms, Phil rushed into the question. 

"Will you marry me?" He held the box out for Dan to see the ring. 

"Of course I will." Dan smiled at Phil, who relaxed and took the ring out of the box. 

"Hand please." He commanded.

Dan held out his right hand first, but at seeing Phil's raised eyebrows, he realise his mistake and swapped hands.

As he slipped the ring on Dan's finger, Phil thought 'thank God he said yes.' 

As soon as the ring reached the base of his finger, Dan grabbed Phil's coat collar and pulled him towards him. He went for a full on, one hundred percent energy kiss. Phil's hands went to Dan's neck, where his fingers gently brushed the bottom of hands hairline, and his thumbs stroked just below Dan's ears.

Dan's hands still held Phil's jackets, but his grip was softer now.

There was so much love, so much passion in this kiss. It wasn't their most passionate, but it was by far the most loving, since their first kiss at Christmas two thousand and thirteen. 

Coming apart, Dan exhaled heavily and blew air into Phil's face, making him laugh. 

"I love you." Phil said, looking into Dan's deep, swirling brown eyes, which would change shade in different lights. 

As Dan looked into Phil's bright, sparkling eyes, he whispered, "I love you too." 

 

They finished eating lunch, although Dad had spent most of it admiring the ring - it was a platinum plated band, curving in a gentle wave around his finger, and there was a small diamond inset into the metal, just sparkling gently in the light, like a small raindrop. 

Walking back through the museum, hand in hand again, but this time Phil could feel the metal of the ring against his own finger, and it just made him so happy, so very very happy. 

They talked, about everything: Japan, each other, just everything; but Phil could tell that Dan wanted to talk about the fans. 

Dan was talking about something to do with Skyrim, but Phil interrupted him. 

"And it fine unless-"

"Dan, please can we stop avoiding it." 

Dan looked startled, "What?"

"I know you want to discuss announcing this." He lifted up his hand, clasped with Dan's and nodding at the ring.

"You noticed then." Dan sighed. 

"They're going to find out sooner or later." Phil stopped at a bench, Dan did too and they say down, looking out onto a river.

"I don't really want to have to tell them." Dan pulled his hand away from Phil and started pulling at his sleeve like he did when he was nervous. 

"Then just act like nothing has changed, but, I don't know, keep the ring on. Trust me, they'll notice." Phil took hands hand again and he ran his thumb over the ring. 

"Then when we get back we do liveshow to tell them." 

"Perfect," Phil brought Dan's hand up to his face and he kissed it softly, making Dan blush. "Now, there are a billion things I want to do you right now, but only a few of them would be appropriate in a park." 


End file.
